The present invention generally relates to collision avoidance in a patient positioning platform. In particular, the present invention relates to dynamically calculating clearance for collision avoidance in a patient positioning platform.
Patient positioner platforms allow a medical practitioner, such as a doctor, nurse or technician, to position a patient during a medical procedure, such as XR, CT, EBT, nuclear, and PET procedures. Patient positioner platforms, such as tables or other supports, allow a patient to be elevated, moved in lateral and longitudinal directions, rotated and/or tilted during a procedure. Patient positioning platforms improve a medical practitioner""s ability to examine and/or perform a medical procedure on a patient.
There is a need for an improved patient positioning platform that may be used in angiography, neurology, and cardiac procedures. Current patient positioner platforms may introduce limitations in obtaining images of blood flow in arteries, heart, lungs, or brain, for example. Thus, a patient positioning system that improves stability and reliable positioning for blood flow imaging in angiography, neurology, cardiac and other such procedures would be highly desirable. Additionally, a patient positioning system that provides reliable and easy positioning of a patient with flexibility to accommodate a variety of medical procedures and emergencies would be highly desirable.
An improved patient positioning platform is capable of performing complex motions to position a patient. During such complex motions, the patient positioning platform may hit the ground or another object. A collision may cause injury to the patient and/or the patient positioning platform. Additionally, a collision may disrupt system calibration and result in faulty measurements or image scans.
Thus, a need exists for a method and system to determine a clearance distance to avoid a collision between a patient positioning platform and the ground or another object.
Certain embodiments include a system and method for collision avoidance in a patient positioning system. The system includes a patient positioning surface for supporting a patient, a lift subsystem for adjusting elevation of the patient positioning surface, a longitudinal subsystem for moving the patient positioning surface in a longitudinal direction, a tilt subsystem for tilting the patient positioning surface, a position sensor for determining a position of the patient positioning surface, and a control subsystem for controlling operation of the patient positioning system. The control subsystem dynamically determines a clearance distance between the patient positioning surface and the object. The control subsystem halts motion of the patient positioning surface if the clearance distance is less than or equal to the minimum safe clearance distance.
The control subsystem may dynamically determine the clearance distance before, during, and/or after motion of the patient positioning surface. The control subsystem may also halt motion of the patient positioning surface if the clearance distance is equal to the minimum safe clearance distance. The position sensor may include an encoder for determining the position of the patient positioning surface. The position sensor may allow the patient positioning surface to return to a recorded position. Certain embodiments may include a plurality of position sensors determining a position of the patient positioning surface along a plurality of axes of motion.
Certain embodiments also include a lateral subsystem for moving the patient positioning surface in a lateral direction. The system may also include a rotation subsystem for rotating the patient positioning surface. At least one brake may be used to halt motion of the patient positioning surface.
The method includes determining a clearance distance between a current position of the patient positioning surface and an object to be avoided. The method also includes comparing the clearance distance to a minimum safe clearance distance and halting motion of the patient positioning surface if the clearance distance is less than or equal to the minimum safe clearance distance.
The method may also include determining the minimum safe clearance distance to avoid a collision with the object to be avoided. The method may further include halting motion of the patient positioning surface if the clearance distance is equal to the minimum safe clearance distance. Additionally, the method may include moving the patient positioning surface to a desired position. The method may include measuring the current position of the patient positioning surface using a position sensor. The current position of the patient positioning surface may be measured with respect to a plurality of axes of motion. The plurality of axes of motion may include at least one of tilt, longitudinal, and lateral axes.